1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to water areas and, in particular, to managing water areas. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for monitoring and responding to safety related events in a recreational water area.
2. Background
Recreational water areas such as beaches and the water around the beaches are areas in which lifesaving operations may be performed for people involved in various activities at and around the beaches in these recreational water areas. For example, over 70,000 individuals are rescued each year from imminent peril at various beaches in the United States. Rescues may occur for individuals who are unable to swim in ocean waters, caught in rip currents, and/or encounter other conditions that may occur in the water.
These rescue missions involve lifeguards at the beaches. Lifeguards may be stationed at various lifeguard stands and other stations. Additionally, lifeguards also may move on vehicles to different locations to monitor the water in which recreational activities occur by the beaches.
The use of lifeguards is an expensive but necessary cost. With the use of lifeguards, however, the cost may restrain time periods when lifeguards are available. For example, lifeguards may only be available during normal operating hours of the beaches. After the normal operating hours, a smaller workforce of lifeguards may be present to monitor the same recreational water area. In some cases, after normal operating hours, lifeguards may be absent from the beaches. Moreover, less popular beaches may not be monitored at all.
As a result, individuals who use recreational water areas outside of normal operating hours or use recreational water areas where lifeguards are not present may find it more difficult to obtain assistance when needed. The absence or reduced number of lifeguards may make it more difficult to detect when individuals may need assistance after normal operating hours for a recreational water area.
Additionally, a desired number of trained lifeguards may be unavailable for use in recreational water areas. For example, even when funds are available for use to expand coverage areas or hours of operation for lifeguard services, the number of certified lifeguards available to work in the recreational water area may be fewer than desired. As a result, lifeguard services in the recreational water area may not be as effective as desired.
Further, even when more lifeguards are present during normal operating hours, the number of lifeguards monitoring a beach may not provide as much coverage as desired to monitor for events in which individuals may need assistance. For example, physical limitations of a lifeguard may limit the effectiveness of lifeguards in the recreational water area. As an example, a lifeguard may have difficulty seeing out into the water to identify that an individual is drowning at about 500 meters away. Further, even if the lifeguard does identify that the individual may be drowning, the time for the lifeguard to reach the individual may be more than desired. As a result, lifeguards may not identify all events in all of the different locations on the beach as quickly as desired and may not reach individuals needing assistance as quickly as desired.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus that takes into account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well as other possible issues.